recommended reading lists : year 4 - burdett...

Burdett-Coutts & Townshend CE Primary School

Recommended Reading Lists : Year 4

1

The following books are appropriate for children in Year 4 and will help to improve their word reading, vocabulary and understanding.

Book title Author Front cover Description

The Butterfly

Lion

Michael Morpurgo

The story of a young boy who rescues an orphaned white lion cub from the African bush. They remain inseparable until Bertie has to go away to boarding school and the lion is sold to a circus.

Years later they are reunited.

The Great Elephant

Chase

Gillian Cross

When the elephant came to town, Tad and Cissie went to the show like everyone else. Little did they know it would change their lives forever.

Because of the elephant, they get involved in a chase across America, by train, by flatboat, and steamboat.



2

The Way To Sattin Shore

Phillipa Pearce

Kate never knew her dad, but that doesn't stop her missing him. She often secretly visits the gravestone with his name on it. But when the gravestone disappears Kate has a mystery on her hands. She has to find out what happened and as she delves deeper into her family's past, she realizes that there are many secrets to uncover and that all the clues point to one place.

As Kate races to Sattin Shore, her mind is a whirl of emotions: what she finds there will change the shape of her life forever.

The Spiderwick Chronicles

Tony Diterlizzi

It all started with a mysterious letter left at a tiny bookstore for authors Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Its closing lines: "We just want people to know about this. The stuff that has happened to us could happen to anyone."

Little could they imagine the remarkable adventure that awaited them as they followed Jared, Simon, and Mallory Grace and a strange old book into a world filled with elves, goblins, dwarves, trolls, and a fantastical menagerie of other creatures. The oddest part is in entering that world, they didn't leave this one!



3

Operation Gadgetman

Malorie Blackman

Beans calls her dad 'Gadgetman' because of the weird and wonderful gadgets he comes up with - everything from exploding biscuits to Spy Kits. But when Gadgetman accidentally invents a device that could be used to steal millions of pounds, the wrong people find out and Gadgetman is kidnapped!

With the help of her friends - and her special Gadgetman Spy Kit - Beans is determined to track down the kidnappers and rescue her dad. But can she find Gadgetman before he is forced to hand over the details of his invention...?

Beaver Towers

Nigel Hinton

The evil witch Oyin has returned to Beaver Towers with one aim, revenge. She has tried to destroy Philip with earth, air and fire. Now she uses her last and most dangerous means of attack, water.

Philip must head for the sea as his friend is in danger. He has dared to defy Oyin once but this time she is waiting for him.

War Game Michael Foreman

In 1914, four British boys dream of competing for the national soccer team but join the English infantry instead. On Christmas day, after months of fighting, war becomes a game when German and British soldiers break all the rules to play soccer and exchange presents...



4

The Invisible

Boy

Sally Gardner

When his parents are lost in space, Sam is left, heartbroken, in the care of the horrible Hilda Hardbottom. Then he finds a tiny spaceship in the cabbage patch and meets a little alien called Splodge. How Splodge makes him invisible, and how Sam uses his new talent in his darkest hour, makes a touching and extremely funny story with lovely memorable characters.

Demon dentist

David Walliams

Darkness had come to the town. Strange things were happening in the dead of night. Children would put a tooth under their pillow for the tooth fairy, but in the morning they would wake up to find… a dead slug; a live spider; hundreds of earwigs creeping and crawling beneath their pillow.

Evil was at work. But who or what was behind it…?

Ice palace Robert Swindells

Ivan lives in a land where the winter is dark and fearful. Starjik, King of Winter, steals Ivan's little brother and Ivan braves the bitter cold to find him.



5

The Chronicles of Narnia

series

C.S Lewis

There are a thousand stories in the land of Narnia all packed with Journeys to the end of the world, fantastic creatures, and epic battles between good and evil.

Charlie And The

Chocolate Factory

Roald Dahl

Charlie Bucket's wonderful adventure begins when he finds one of Mr. Willy Wonka's precious Golden Tickets and wins a whole day inside the mysterious chocolate factory. Little does he know the surprises that are in store for him!

The Children Of

Green Knowe

Lucy M. Boston

There are three children: Toby, who rides the majestic horse Feste; his mischievous little sister, Linnet; and their brother, Alexander, who plays the flute. The children warmly welcome Tolly to Green Knowe... even though they've been dead for centuries.

But that's how everything is at Green Knowe. The ancient manor hides as many stories as it does dusty old rooms and the master of the house is great-grandmother Oldknow, whose storytelling mixes present and past with the oldest magic in the world



6

Carrie’s War Nina Bawden

Albert, Carrie and young Nick are war-time evacuees whose lives get so tangled up with the people they've come to live among that the war and their real families seem to belong to another world.

Carrie and Nick are billeted in Wales with old Mr Evans, who is so mean and cold, and his timid mouse of a sister, Lou, who suddenly starts having secrets.

The Falcon’s Malteser

Anthony Horowitz

When the vertically-challenged Johnny Naples entrusts Tim Diamond with a package worth over three million pounds, he's making a big mistake. Tim Diamond is the worst detective in the world.

Next day, Johnny's dead, Tim feels the heat, and his smart younger brother, Nick, gets the package and every crook in town on his back!

The Legend Of Captain

Crow’s Teeth

Eoin Colfer

Will's brother Marty is always playing practical jokes. But when he tells the bloodcurdling story of the cutthroat pirate Captain Crow, Will is terrified.

Is it another one of Marty's tricks, or could Captain Crow's ghost really be out to get him?



7

The Snow Spider

Jenny Nimmo

On Gwyn's 9th birthday, his grandmother tells him he may be a magician, like his Welsh ancestors.

She gives him five gifts to help him -- a brooch, a piece of dried seaweed, a tin whistle, a scarf, and a broken toy horse.

Desirable Frank Cottrell Boyce

George is a self-confessed social reject who spends more time with his Warhammer figures than actual people - but when he's given a bottle of aftershave called Desirable, women can't resist him!

How will he cope with his new-found popularity?

And what will happen when the magic wears off?

The 13 Storey

Treehouse

Andy Griffiths

Who wouldn't want to live in a treehouse?

Especially a 13-storey treehouse that has a bowling alley, a see-through swimming pool, a tank full of sharks, a library full of comics, a secret underground laboratory, a games room, self-making beds, vines you can swing on, a vegetable vaporiser and a marshmallow machine that follows you around and automatically shoots your favourite flavoured marshmallows into your mouth whenever it discerns you're hungry.

recommended reading lists : year 4 - burdett...

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